Terminator: Return of the Machines
by Anonymous Fanz
Summary: Fives years after the Connors believed they've prevented Judgement day, they learn their efforts to have been fruitless. A terminator shows up to try and kill John before he is saved by another sent back to save him and help them prevent Skynet once and for all. ... Novelization of Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles season 1 Rating may change
1. Prologue

**To set up the backstory for a original character appearing in a continuation to TSCC, and help catch up readers without having to watch the show (Though I still would recommend it anyway), this is a fanfic where an investigator attempts to understand what Sarah was doing in the series, by retracing her steps all the way from the pilot. At the same time, I will show a few things that the show doesn't allow us to see and a subplot that will reveal some additional story for my continuation. And give people who have already seen the show another reason to read. Because I have no idea who will be reading this.**

 **Anonymous Fanz doesn't own Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, or Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Please support the official release.**

 **No seriously. I would be so happy if this lead to a continuation of TSCC, words would not be able to describe it.**

* * *

Sarah Connor: 1999

There are those who believe that a child in her womb shares his mother's dreams. Her love for him. Her hopes for his future. Is it told to him in pictures while he sleeps inside her? Is that why he reaches for her in that first moment and cries for her touch? But what if you'd known since he was inside you what his life held for him? That he would be hunted. That his fate was tied to the fate of millions. That every moment of your life will be spent keeping him alive. Would he understand why you were so hard? Why you held on so tight? Will he still reach for you if the only dream you ever shared with him was a nightmare? Would he know my love runs through him like blood? I hurried to find my son in his school. I found him sitting in a library. "John, now!" He looked over to me. "Now!" I repeated. He started running to me, while grabbing his bag. "The cops meet you at the diner?" He asked. "I don't know. Maybe." I answered. We hurried outside. "Yes. definitely." Four police cars, each with several armed officers standing by them with their guns aimed for us were right outside the school. " **Sarah Connor! John Connor! Drop what you're carrying. Put your hands on your head and kneel on the ground. Now!** " An officer yelled into a megaphone.

We were handcuffed, and forced into separate vehicles. To make things worse, someone was coming. Or something. I think it's a terminator, a robot assassin sent from the future to kill my son. I need to get out of here now. The officer next to me was looking down. My skirt was messed up. "Do me a favor, will you? Fix it." He moved his hand. I hit him in the face before he could touch me. He started groaning. The machine is moving faster. I continued attacking the man next to me. A car started it's sirens and moved in front of the terminator. He pulled out a shotgun and began firing at the two in the car. Other officer began aiming their weapon at him while he threw away the shotgun. "Drop your weapon!" He pulled out two SMGs, which he fired at them. The officers engaged in a firefight with him. He shot open the window next to me, allowing me to open the door using the outside handle. I moved over to the car John was in and helped him out of it. "Move!" I shouted, as I pulled him out of the car. We stayed down to avoid being shot. Most of the officers are already dead. I pulled John up, forcing him to look at me. "Run! RUN!" I ordered. He ran as fast as he could. The machine dropped his SMGs, which were now out of ammo. Before he could pull another weapon from his coat, I fired one of the dead policemen's pistols at him, aiming for the head. I managed to knock his sunglasses off. He looked to me. Then he fired his pistol at John.

NOOO! I ran to him, screaming his name. "John? John?" I checked his body, to see if he survived. He didn't. I almost started crying. No. I won't. "Do it!" I yelled to the metal assassin. "Do it, kill me! Nothing matters anymore, kill me!" Now that John is dead, Skynet wins. "You're right. Nothing matters anymore. Only the boy. The future's ours. And it begins now." After the machine finished his sentence, a nuke went off. Judgement Day has begun. The building was destroyed, and the flesh flew off the terminator. He walked to me, grabbed my throat, and began strangling me to death.

...

I woke up from another of my nightmares. "Did you scream or something?" Charley said. He's the man I've been living with for half a year now. "Scream? No. Go back to sleep." I responded. "I can't. Got an early shift. Are you all right?" Charley asked. "I'm good." I answered. "Yeah?" He asked. "I'm great." I replied. "Well, you damn well better be. You know, the guy down at the store told me any woman would be lucky to have this ring." Also, we're engaged. "He doesn't know the giver like I do." I said. I gave him a kiss. "You wanna know a secret?" Charley asked. "I don't know. I don't like secrets." I answered. "No? This is a good one." He said. "Really?" I asked. "Yeah." He replied. "Alright." I said. "John picked it out. Sort of." Charley said. "You know I'd been looking and looking and I... kinda starting freaking myself out with the whole color and cut and clarity—" He explained. "So you turned the job over to a 15-year-old boy." I finished for him. "You think I'm a jackass, don't you." Charley said. "I'm thinking I love you." We started kissing again. "Always rember that." I whispered. "Early shift. Better get going." I reminded. "Right. Early shift. Bye." The sooner he's gone, the better.

* * *

John Connor: West Fork, Nebraska; August 24th, 1999

When I woke up I jumped before realizing the person right in front of my was my mother. "Mom, how many times have I told you it's freaky when you do that!" This has happens a lot. I'm suprised I haven't gotten used to it at this point. "I'm sorry." She apologized. It feels like she wants to talk about something. "What's going on?" I asked. "We can't stay here, John." She said. "What?" I asked. "It's not safe." She said. " Not safe from who? No one knows us. No one asks questions. It's been almost two years. School starts in, like, three weeks." What is she worried about? "We need to go." She said. "No, you need to go. You're scared. He gave you a ring and now you're freaking out." We've only been here for a few months. "I know you like him." She said. "So do you, mom! So do you. You love him, I know you do." I got out of bed. "Listen to me! The cops will never find us. We're safe." I tried to reassure her.

"Don't you think that, John!" She grabbed my shoulder and pushed towards my bed. "Don't you ever think that. Look at me!" She tilted my head. "No one is ever safe." This isn't about the cops. It's about Skynet. Even though we destroyed it all, she's still scared of the machines. "Half an hour. One bag. Plus the guns. I'll make pancakes." There's no arguing with her. We're leaving.

* * *

Sarah Connor's narration

 _Every family has rules. And we had ours. Keep your head down, keep your eyes up, resist the urge to be seen as important or special. Know your exits._

* * *

Charley Dixon: Days later

"I mean, she's not exactly missing, right? The way you explained it." I went to a police station to find out what happened to Sarah. "Right, The way I explained it, she's not missing. She left." That's what it looks like. But she wouldn't. "Happens more than you think." The officer said. "You don't know her." I told him. " I can say the same to you, Mr. Dixon." Someone else walked in. He was wearing a black suit. He was carrying a file, and a wallet. He opened it to show me his badge. "FBI." I observed. I have no idea what he's doing here. "Been together long?" He asked. "Six months, maybe. Bit of a whirlwind." I answered. "You have no idea, the whirlwind." He replied, as he opened the file.

"Tell me, does the Skynet Defense System mean anything to you?" He was pulling some papers out of the file. "No." He dropped a news article on the table. "How about this guy." It's a news article about some guy from a cybernetics company. "Miles Dyson. No. Never seen him before." I answered. "That's because he's dead." What does this have to do with anything? "Your fiancée, freshly escaped from the Pescadero Mental Hospital, blew him apart two years ago. Leveled a four story research lab along with him. But since there's no lethal injection for the destruction of property, let's just stick with the murder of one of our county's brightest computer scientists. And... dedicated family man." He showed me a picture of Dyson's family. "That's... it's just not... Why would she do that?" I have no idea what this is. It doesn't make any sense. "Well, you know, Mr. Dixon. It's the robots." What? "The ones from the future. The ones Skynet sent to kill her son. Which makes total sense. Because, in the future, John's not only her son, but... What does it say here?" He started looking back at the file and read it aloud. "The leader of the resistance fighting artificially intelligent machines determined to annihilate the human race." He looked back to me. "Did he strike you that way? Leader of a scrappy band of rebels? Luke Skywalker type?" He asked. " He's just a kid. He's a great kid. He was like a son to me." What the hell is this! "I came down here for help. You can't really be asking me this!"

"No. I'm not." The FBI agent said. "This is just my patter, Mr. Dixon. This is just me impressing upon you that I'm not here because you lost your fiancée, love of your life and all-around good time girl. I'm here because my boss, the United States of America, thinks Sarah Connor is a deluded... Dangerous grade A whack-a-mole who killed a man because she believes that in the future he'll invent a computer system that declares war on the world." I can't believe this. "So let's begin with her name. I understand it's not Connor." It wasn't.

* * *

Sarah Connor: A gas station

I drove until we were out of the country, to make sure no one can find us.

* * *

Detective Michael Graves: FBI

I added Sarah Reese as a known alias on her file. Not that I expect it to help anyone find her, since she probably has tons of other aliases we don't know about, but it gives us another name to look out for. If we're lucky, she hasn't changed it again. It's not easy to establish a new alias.

Last time they slipped up, we almost had them. Connor got into one fight, and we caught is face in a report. This time, we won't let them get away.

* * *

Unknown: waiting

After years of waiting, the name "Sarah Reese" was finally added to the FBI database. Which means it's time.


	2. Mr Ferguson is ill today

**Me: Reviews had the exact reception I was expecting.**

 **olischulu: I specifically made them long to avoid complaints about them being to short. I write these on my Ipad, because I don't have a computer working well enough to use long enough to write a whole chapter, so instead, I have to edit small stuff like that whenever I can borrow someone else's.**

 **I'm going to have a side story running alongside the main one as a subplot, but it's not going to start until after the pilot. There is a storywise reason for this.**

 **Tyr: Thanks. I was orginally going to do the pilot as one chapter, but I realized, with my added subplot, it would take a long time to do chapters episodically, and I think it looks better broken into multiple short parts.**

 **Fastandloud: Thank you. I plan on linking this story to a continuation, and linking my continuation to something else.**

...

John Connor: Red Valley, New Mexico; September 6th, 1999

"You'll be responsible for three chapters a week. You have a quiz each friday. You're allowed one make-up test with a parent's note." Mr. Ferguson, the teacher at the school I'm enrolling now, is explaining how his class will function. "What's your name?" A girl from a seat next to me whispered. I looked to see her. "John." I said. "Cameron." She replied. "And no talking... while I'm talking." Mr. Ferguson was talking to us. I could hear a couple other students laughing at us.

...

First day of class.

As I walked to my next class, I tried to shove my notebook into my bag. "John?" It's that girl from earlier. "Yeah?" I asked. "I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just move here?" She asked. "Yeah, I did." I answered. "Sucks for you." I walked over to my locker. "My dad sells tractors. What about yours?" She asked. "Insurence." I lied. My dad died, but I can't explain that since it involves the machines. No one would believe me if I said it. "Really? What kind?" She asked. "The boring kind." I said. "Those are the kind of tractors my dad sells. What about your mom? My mom stays home." I don't really have time for this. "You know, I really gotta get to the next class, so..." "So... maybe i'll see you later?" She asked. "Sure, yeah." I replied. "Bye." She said, as she left.

...

After class.

The moment I got home, I went back to my bed. Not to go to sleep. I just decided to lie around for a while, and listen to some music. My mom walked in to pick up my used clothes. I took off my headphones. "This is a hick town, mom." I said. "We've been in worse places. A lot worse." We just left somewhere much better than this. " Well, my clothes are all wrong. I need, like, some different shirts." I look way to noticable. "You know, here everyone wears boots? Like, cowboy boots. I hate cowboy boots." She put down my now folded clothes. "I'll see what I can do." She said. "Their computers are like, from the frigging '50s or something." I said. She turned around. "Their computers? I thought we agreed—" "It wasn't my fault they switched my class." I explained. "The last thing I need is you to be caught hacking." She yelled. "I'm not hacking, mom. God, I know the rules." I said. "They're, like, written on the inside of my eyeballs, all right?" I tilted my head down in guilt. Last time I hacked, we almost got caught by the FBI. "Hey." I looked. "You meet any pretty girls?" She asked. "No, I'm telling you, it's a hick town." I said.

...

John Connor: September 7th, 1999

Cameron sat next to me again. "I lied to you yesterday. My dad doesn't sell insurance. He's dead. He was a soldier. He was killed on a mission." I feel like I should tell her the truth. At least all of it I can. "I'm sorry." She said. "It's all right. My mom was pregnant with me when it happened. I never even knew him. So it's all right." I explained. "My mom, she's kind of uptight. Actually, no, she's really uptight. She likes me to come home straight after school and hang out with her and that kind of thing, you know? I'm all she's got." I added. "Thank you for explaining. It'll be our secret." She said. The bell rang.

"Mr. Ferguson is ill today." A substitute teacher walked in. "My name is Cromartie." A substitute teacher was taking in place of Mr. Ferguson. "Is that your only name? Like Madonna?" Mary, one of my classmates asked. "Madonna? Why? No." He replied. That's definitely not normal. He sat down. "Let's take attendance, then. Mary Booai." I'm pretty sure that's his last name. "Here." But why just "Cromartie"? "Donald Chase." Normally it would be "Mr. Cromartie". "Here." He doesn't sound like the kind of teacher to try to be friendly enough with us to go by just one name. "Franklin Lane." And the way he talks. "Here." He sounds like a terminator. "Cynthia Nolan." But he can't be. "Here" Still, it's bothering me. "Wayne Parker." He's almost like the machines. "Here." Maybe I'm thinking about it too much.

"Cameron Phillips." She didn't respond. "Cameron?" "Here." Why did she take so long? Is she thinking about how suspicious Cromartie is, too.

"Reese? Do we have a John... Reese?" I have a bad feeling about this. I raised my hand, while looking away. If he is a terminator, he can't figure out who I am as long as he doesn't see my face or hear my voice. If he's a machine, he probably isn't smart enough to ask me to do one of those things if I just raise my hand. If he's human, he might not care. "Excellent." He's a terminator. He pulled out a gun. I ducked under my desk as he shot at me. As students were rushing for cover, he shot Cameron. She didn't even try to run. It's like she just froze.

I ran for a window, and jumped out. I hid behind a bus to see if he was behind me. Surely enough, he began firning at me the moment I looked back. I ran into the parking lot. There are lots of cars their, so I can move past them with out being in this guys sight. When I looked again, the bus fell over. Because Cromartie knocked it down, so he could climb on top of it to get a higher veiw of the area. He's definitely a terminator. I don't know how they came back, or how they found me, but he is a machine. He kept surveying the area. I can only sit here and hope he doesn't see me. He looked in my direction, and jumped down. He fired at me, so I ran for cover. He kept shooting the windshields of the cars I'm hiding behind. I tried to move around a red car to escape him, but he was on the other side before I was. He aimed his gun at me.

Then a pickup truck hit him. The truck reversed, and it's door was kicked open. "Come with me if you want to live." It was Cameron. I ran into the truck without thinking. When I looked at her, I saw she was shot. She bled. But she didn't feel the pain. Because she's another Terminator.


	3. Cromartie

**Me: We made it to five reviews. And I didn't have to piss off the fanbase to do it.**

 **Olischulu: It's easier to watch a nascar race than talk about it. The problem that we're looking at isn't that this is written in first person. Though it is related to the cause. It's that I'm trying to convert this from a third person focused story to first person. That's why I'm writing this. So I can figure out how to mix my normal style of writing without changing the feel of the story, as well as change perspective from watching to reading to make it easier to get used to writing about Terminators. Also, it helps me refresh my knowledge of the story, by not only rewatching, but analyzing the show. So basically, when this is all over, I'll be able to make my continuation into a great story instead of looking something like this. If I did the continuation first, it would be roughly the same as this story is now. Only longer with chapters. Also, I plan on writing these out similar to my brother Halo fanfic (and my early RvB). I write small chapters and fuse them into bigger, edited ones. Back to the problem, it was something I spent my break from writing this story (and a lot of my other stories) trying to figure out how to solve. I still don't know if I have it right yet because only the reader (and time) will tell me. I only know that working on this makes rereading easier for me edit going back, because I can see what happened, and what it should look like. And I have you guys to act as my pair of eyes as far as finding problems goes.**

 **Fastandloud: Thanks for the continued support.**

 **And incase you're wondering, when I fuse the chapters, all my notes on the reviews will be moved to the bottom of the story.**

...

John Connor: moments later

I called my mom. "John?" She said, once she answered. As soon as we were too far away for Cromartie to follow us, I called my mom. "Mom? Mom?" I don't know if it's her or Cromartie. "I tried to call you." She said. "Mom, I've been trying to call you. Listen to me, okay? They're back. It's back." I explained. "John, slow down. Where are you?" She asked. "I'm going to the house." I answered. "I'll be right there." If Mom wasn't already at the house getting the guns, she must have gone to the school to make sure I w as ok. Which means she had to face Cromartie unprepared. "Mom!" I doubt he wouldn't expect it either. "I love you, John. Stay right there." That's not what mom would tell me to do. She'd have me leave without her. Cromartie either killed her, or captured her. If she's alive, he might have taken her to the house. I shook my head in disbelief. "Let's go." I got back in the pickup truck. Cromartie might know me and my mom, but he doesn't know Cameron. Or what she really is.

* * *

Sarah Connor

I was taken by surprise by the machine. It brought me back to the house. Now, I can only hope John does what I've taught him to do. The door opened slowly. The machine grabbed my throat to keep me silent. "John." It could imitate my voice, but it was unable to show any expression. John should know the diffrence. "John." John should know it's not me. Unless he's not as careful as I expect him to be. "Are you okay." The machine was hiding behind the chair he placed me on. With the lights off, John can't see him. "Mom?" John called. It's him! No! "John." The machine readied the Colt M1911A1 he stole from me, releasing my throat in the progress. "Mom?" John repeated. The machine knocked me away before I could react. The terminator fired at John before I could do anything. "John! No! John!" This was it. My worst nightmare turned reality. The Terminator turned his body over.

"Neat trick. You like?" It wasn't John. It was another Terminator. Probably sent by John from the future. I ran and grabbed the Remington 870 I hid in the walls when we got here. Both Terminators were about to fight when I turned back to them. I shot at Skynet's terminator. It turned to me, allowing the other machine to push it against the wall. It pushed the second terminator back, then slammed it through the same wall. Seconds later, the second one was thrown across the room, crashing into something in the next room. When the one that attacked me returned to my sights, I started firing again. I can't hurt the machine, but I can slow it down. It started shooting back at me with my handgun. I took cover behind the chair it had me sitting in. Luckily, I made sure all of the furniture was bullet proof. It continued fighting with the other Terminator. Suddenly, someone ran bahind me. "Next time you do what you're trained to do: You run." I grabbed my son as I scolded him. We ran while two machines fought each other.

* * *

John Connor

While we drove away in Cameron's truck, something loud crashed behind us. We looked back to see she followed us. She climbed into the truck with us. "Did you stop him?" My mom asked. "120 seconds and the system reboots." Cameron explained. So, he'll be back. "I was sent here to protect John." Cameron explained. I think mom figured that out already. "Not now. Not yet." That doesn't mean she's going to trust her. "

* * *

Sarah Connor

We hid at one of my safehouses. I always make sure I have at least one in case of an emergency. John is sleeping back in the truck. Cameron, the Terminator sent to save John, started picking the bullets from her chest. "You might wanna put those back in the holster." I suggested. She realized what the metaphor meant, and put her tank top back on.

I'm surprised she didn't think about the bullets first. Some of them still look usable, and we need to save up on ammo. "We should be good here two more hours. Hit the border at lunchtime." This isn't the first time I've had to sneak John past the border, but she wasn't with us any of those times.

"What year are you from?" I asked. "2027." The machine answered. The same year Kyle came from. "How long have you been looking for us?" I know she's been here long enough to not be new. "73 days." She answered. That's two and a half months. Did she spend all that time maintaining cover here? I know the machines don't run out of patience.

"And the war?" I asked. I don't know how anything we've done changed the future. "The Skynet missile defense system goes online April 19th, 2011. Declares war on mankind and triggers a nuclear apocalypse two days later." So we didn't stop Judgement Day. Just delayed it more.

"Miles Dyson?" I'm pretty sure he died when Cyberdyne exploded. He stayed behind to blow it up. "Someone else builds Skynet." Cameron replied. As I suspected, he died. "Who?" I asked. It's not to late to stop them. "We don't know." She answered. "You don't know who builds the computer that blows up the world?" I asked. "I wasn't sent here for that." She replied. Of course not. "No, you were sent here to keep my son from being assassinated." I said.

"Your fiancé went to the police. You should have changed your alias." Charley? "Go to hell." She doesn't understand. "They'd have found you anyway. They always do." Or maybe she does. She's different from the last Terminator. She already understands that we have emotions. But I don't think she has any.


	4. Changing course

**I didn't forget this story. I just decided to leave it alone for a while, since it's easier to write than most of my other stories, because of the shorter chapters.  
**

 **...**

Agent Ellison: At the destroyed house

The Deputy walked over. "There's Kevlar in that chair." The Deputy explained. Murphy reported seeing same stuff last time we almost caught them.. "APB's statewide, but it's been..." He looked at his watch. I already knew what he was going to say. "19 hours." I finished his sentence.

"What the hell happened here?" The Deputy asked. "22 witnesses, Deputy Ridge. 22 of your good town folk. That's a whole football team. Guess what 19 of 'em saw?" There's no way the Deputy hasn't heard. "A shooter with some kind of robot leg." The Deputy finished. "A shooter. With some kind of robot leg." I repeated.

"What are you thinking?" The deputy asked. "I think it's a prosthetic, but it could have been another concealed weapon." I replied. Those kids seemed convinced the shooter wasn't human. Probably just the traumatic experience. We've seen this happen to some of the others involved in the case. But they usually referred to the tall guy. He didn't match the description of the shooter, so it's more likely someone else got involved. But who?

...

Sarah Connor

Cameron pulled the Bull Bars off of the truck. People are less likely to recognize the truck without it. She started looking at the engine.

Cameron's is more different from the last one John sent. She understood a metaphor I doubt she's heard before, and I think she was trying to be reassuring earlier. She wasn't very good at it, but she tried. The last one learned how to be human from my John, not future John. I hope the he hasn't affected John's future by making him too trusting in the machines.

I'm more afraid of the one currently hunting us. It's probably making repairs. Finding ways to conceal the wounds. Bandages, and heavier clothing most likely. The question is whether or not it's already prepared for interference. I'm going to carry the shotgun just in case trouble shows up.

"Hey." I walked over to John, who's still in the truck. He hasn't left since we got here. "Why is this happening again?" He asked. He wanted to believe this was over. I something I never could. "I don't know." I answered. I kept reminding him they could come back, but he didn't want to believe me.

"You stopped it." John said. "I guess I didn't" I replied. Part of me always knew this day would come. When the machines come back. I could never stop it. "You can." John knows what I'm thinking. "You changed the future. You just didn't do it enough. So you can do it again." He still has hope. "I don't know, John." I replied. What if Skynet is inevitable?

"I can't keep running. I can't." John sounds the same as when I told him they might come back. "I'm not who they think I am. Some messiah." John knows he's not ready. That's why I need to make sure he is. "You don't know that." I reminded. The one thing holding him back is the hope he'll never have to. If he survives Judgement Day, there won't be anything else stopping him.

"I know. I can't lead an army." John doesn't have faith in himself yet. "Maybe that's you, but it'll never be me, so you have to stop it." I've been where he was. It wasn't until Kyle died, that I was able to change. I know that when all hope is lost, he'll become who he needs to be. "Please." He begged. "Mom." The only reason I'm not crushing his hopes now, is because I may never have to.

"Alright." I said. "Alright, what?" He wasn't sure what I meant. I hugged him. "I'll stop it." I answered. I walked over to Cameron. "We're not going across the border." I explained. Cameron turned to face me. "Where are we going?" she asked. She sounded slightly less monotonous. She's probably asked that question before. "To find Skynet." I answered.


End file.
